1433 may very well have been the first ever record of the Routledge surname, but there is no means any proof that this is where they came from or whether or not they where the first ones. It was in researching in to the Routledges of Bewcastle that I would find the first bit of evidence suggesting where we may have came form and also finally answering my question as to how the Routledges came to be in Bewcastle anyway.
Our story in Bewcastle begins with royal connections, but don't get to excited though. It was with the future King of England, Richard the Duke of Gloucester, who in 1470 was appointed Warden of Bewcastle. Shortly after this in 1473 he appointed Captains of Bewcastle who were let the lands and Castle but were to pay no rent as long as they provided services to the King; These men were Cuthbert and John Routledge, Robert Elliot and Gerard Nixon. At first I did not know where they had come form and made the assumption like so many others before me that they must have been local men. However a chance discovery in a letter dated August 1538 between William and John Musgrave it describes how they came to be in possession of the Lands and Castle.
"...60 years have past since the Liddesdale men came into England and were sworn to King Richard at Carlisle... and let all the lands of Bewcastle to Cuthb. and John Routlege, Robt. Elwald and Gerard Nyxon"
Further on in the letter it tells us that the lands at Bewcastle had long since lay waste and that the castle and lands were to be given to the four men who would be under the King. Sadly though things were not to last and our reign as Castle owners were to come to an end before they had barely begun. Richard became King in 1478 but it came to an end when he was killed in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth. At which point the lands were stripped from the four men and handed over to the Musgrave Family, who were already a powerful name in the north. They continued to keep and govern the lands and Castle throughout the reiver years.
But I'm not bitter that we lost our only Castle in history. The Routledges may have been there first but they got out just in time. For the 16th century was to be a torrid time for Bewcastle and it's people. At the height of the Border Reivers it was going to be the Musgrave's responsibility to protect and police the people in their parish. They faced a hundred and twenty years of trying to control the Fosters, Nixon's, Grahams, Elliots, Armstrong's and of course the Routledges. Rather them than us!
So if ever you go to Bewcastle you can turn to your children, wives, partners, family and friends etc, and tell them that...
"Thanks to the King of England we used to own that heap of rubble and stones!"
Marks on the Map
Various locations in Bewcastle are associated with the Routledges but the
main one has to be the area known as the Bailey, which is where the Black
and White Lynes meet. Near here can be found the place frequently
accredited to be where our name came from, Routledge Burn. The name
Routledge itself supposedly translates into "red lache" which
mean red stream or pool. And indeed the burn is red on appearance.
Although I, along with more modern thinking, agree that the Burn gained
its name from the people and not the other way around. In fact if you go
back early enough it is called the Bailey Water and is not till later it
is called Routledge Burn. Perhaps named after William Retleche who is
named living there when it was called Bailey water in the early 16th
century.
This is the same for the so called home
of 
generations
of Routledges, Routledge Burn Farm. Thanks to a local historian he
informed me that the farm has only been there since early 1800's, and is
not till the early 1920's it is called Routledge Burn Farm on the OS maps.
But this does not take away the fact that during the Reiver years the
Bailey water, or Routledge Burn was the home of the Routledges. In fact
just down the road from the burn is a building called Cuddys Hall which is
believed to be the probable home of the before mentioned Cuthbert
Routledge. At the start of the burn is a hill called Routledge Rigg. So
its safe to say in my opinion, and of other historians, that the Routledge
gave the name to these places and not the other way around
Family and a home
By the time records start to become more informative in the early 1600's it is apparent that the Routledges are very much a large presence in the area. All of the current locals today will tell you how they used to own nearly all of the lands in Bewcastle at one point and yet there are hardly any in the area today.
The 1604 survey of the Borders gives a good insight as to just how many Routledges there was, although the spelling does vary tremendously. The most common spelling being Rowtledge. Nowadays the Parish of Bewcastle is divided into four quarters but back then it was divided into only three areas; The Crewe, The Bailey and The Quarter.
The Crewe returns show a grand total of 50 tenants, 30 paying rent and 20 not. And out of those there is only two Routledges
The Bayley returns show 42 tenants, all paying no rent. Out of these 35 are Routledges and out of the remaining 7 there is no two names the same.
The Quarter returns show 53 tenants, 38 paying rent and 15 not. And among these there is 19 Routledges all paying rent, but among the other tenants the majority seem to be Nixon's. It is to no surprise then that this area is today known as Nixon's quarter.
If a person paid no rent then they owned the land, and if they paid then they were merely tenants. This means that out of a total of 145 tenants recorded, 54 of them are Routledges which is over a third of the parish, the greatest of all the names mentioned. It must be remembered at this point that this survey is from 1604, the year after James I came to the Throne of England and brought an end to the Reivers. That means that these 54 Routledges, unless all one year old tenants, were officially Border Reivers because of where and when they lived. And most of them had their fathers names too. So from this and the farms that they were paying rent on it meant that 'poor Thomas Routledge' of Todhills was succeeded by a Martin and by 1604 a James. Three generations of reivers.
However by 1630 our numbers had already began to dwindle and it seemed to becoming a battle of land ownership between the Routledges and the Nixon's. On an indenture dated 27th May 1630 between Lord of the Manor and the tenants it describes the rent and dues they must pay, such as giving their best beast, or 20 shillings if they did not have one, and also how many days service they must give to the Lord. This ranged from a day's mowing to three days shearing. This was witnessed by 11 senior tenants, among which were a Allan and Robert Routledge off Cumcrook and a Thos Routledge of the Kiln.
It lists a grand total of 92 tenants in the indenture. 34 of them are Nixon's and 27 of them are Routledges. So between the two families they made up over two thirds of the parishes inhabitants. We may have not been the main family any more but we were still a third of the community.
By the 1642 Protestation Returns however there are only 23 Routledges, out of the 151 parishioners that signed. The Protestation Return was a country wide survey, and was a list of every male over the age of 18 who pledged there allegiance to King Charles I. It is the closest to a census of all the over 18 year old males we can get at this time. Every parish in England had one and it acts as a good way of judging the male population of the era.
Genealogy
This wealth of information leads us nicely into the start of family trees in the area with the parish records beginning in 1665. Although in my case it is where my family tree ended as I found it impossible to trace anything beyond this date, well impossible so far. Now when I created the original website I decided that I would not venture in the Genealogy side of the Routledges and this site is no different. This is because I felt I did not have the resources to help every Routledge individually out there. Having said that though I have no objections to helping point people in the right directions. And that's what this little section is about.
Using the 1583 Musgrave list, the 1604 survey and the 1630 indenture some gaps can be filled. Not so much proving direct families, but by following ownership of land up to the start of the Parish Records in 1665. Granted I'm fully aware this creates a 20, 25 and 35 year gap to bridge in history, but with the likes of the 1604 survey at least a lot of the lands describe list the owner and the father too. For example there are Routledges named at Crookburn, Nook, Bailey, Black Dubbs, Bailey Head, Sleetbeck, Cumcrook, Trough Head and Bellbank in both 1583 and 1604. But in the 1604 record it names the owner as son of... and the name matches up with the 1583 records. The raids and there details recorded in the 1580's and 90's also help us eliminate Routledges from the Musgrave List.
Black Dobs is by far the best example of this as it describes the men listed in 1583 as brothers, then in 1604 it has them listed as the fathers of four men who then own the land.
|
1583 Musgrave List |
1604 Survey | |||
| Nicholl Rutledge of Black Dobs | Edward Routledge of Black Dobs | Son of Nicholl | ||
| Andrew Rutledge of Black Dobs | Archibald Routledge of Black Dobs | Son of Andrew | ||
| John Rutledge of Black Dobs | Thomas Routledge of Black Dobs | Son of John | ||
| Cuthbert Routledge of Black Dobs | Son of John |
This is the case for the other lands I've listed about, and if I knew the acreage of the other lands I would be able to match up a lot more lands and Routledge families. The Routledges of Todhills and Cumcrook are easily traceable too but none of the names seem to correspond with the previous list so perhaps I need to look more into the acres of the land and identify them that way. Either way our numbers in the area was about to dwindle and reduce for some unknown reason, well unknown till I paid a visit to the area.
The Down Fall
For anyone who has ever visited the area and mentioned they were Routledges tracing their ancestors they will have all been told the same tale. You will find every farmer or local will not hesitate to say to you
"You know what happened to the Routledge lot don't you? They all went mad and insane after marrying their cousins, uncles and aunties"
But don't go rushing down the Deed poll office yet to change your name and hide this family secret. For only if you have six fingers on each hand, webbed toes and a strange fondness for the dueling banjos, are you likely to be related to these Routledges. It seems that those that left the area survived, and those that stayed went.....well.... mad! Why they did this I do not know but perhaps it was down to retaining land and fortune.
Not all Routledges inter married, but the worst ones for it seemed to be those of the Flatt. There is on instance where a William Routledge, known as Laird Willie, has a sister Anne who marries his Uncle Thomas. Anne and Thomas have a daughter called Jane who then marries William. This would mean that Anne was Williams sister, auntie and mother-in-law. Thomas was Williams uncle, Father-in-law and Brother-in-law. and Jane was Williams niece, Wife and cousin. This is with out doubt the worst example I can find. But the majority off Routledges tended to behave normally and marry people that did not share the same name.
There is a total of 25 examples of Routledges marrying related Routledges
from 1665 to 1805 in Bewcastle Church records, and even further examples
in neighbouring parishes such as Lanercost and Stapleton. So what ever
caused our cousins to do this, I doubt we will never know for certain. But
perhaps retaining and acquiring land is the best I can think of. Those
Routledges that spent generations intermarrying accumulated more and more
land till they owned most of the parish. For example in 1700 when William
of the Flatt died that was all that he owned, the Flatt. But by the 1820's
his inbred and incestuous descendants, his great-grandchildren, ish,
owned no fewer than 10 estates, such as the Flatt, Upper Oakshaw, Parkhead
and both High and Mid Todholes. All through marrying other Routledges. So
what in 1604 was owned by 10-15 families was in 1805 owned by one.
Then it would have been no doubt a matter of time before the males and females could no longer have children and their mental stability effected. So the answer as to what happened to the Routledges of Bewcastle was they left. Those that stayed intermarried, but not all of them, and the others fled the area to rid them selves of the reputation. Can you imagine going to school where everyone knows your relatives went mad and interbred!
Not all Routledges should be tarred with the same brush though. Bewcastle produced some prosperous Routledges. The famous George Routledge who started the Routledge publishers was descended from Bewcastle. His Grandfather ran a farm before his son, George's father, Robert moved to Brampton. The Routledges of Cumcrook produced merchants who made their fortunes in India and other countries. And of course they produced me too!
Routledges and the Church
For any Routledge St Cuthbert's at Bewcastle is a must visit. Looking at
the Graves in the cemetery is like looking into a who's who of border
reivers. There has been a church on this site as far back as 1291 but it
was rebuilt in 1792 and what you see today was extensively reworked in
1902, with only the east end surviving from before 1792. There is no doubt
it would not make the top ten of attractive churches. But it certainly
holds the echo's of young Routledges screaming over a font on their
christening, families rejoicing at weddings, and bereaved relatives at
funerals. If the walls could talk they would certainly tell you tales.
Even the number of graves belonging to Routledges speaks volumes. Out of
571 graves stones an amazing 62 belong to Routledges,
and from what I can tell most of them aren't related. By that I mean
Father, son, wife etc, not the interbreeding I referred to before. The
oldest grave in the cemetery belongs to an Adam Routledge who died in 1697
aged 82. With out doubt the closest you'll get to the grave of a Routledge
Reiver. Born in 1615, his father would have galloped through the valleys
raiding and reiving with steel held high. And who knows, perhaps Adam
received his Father's sword passed down in his will. This was not uncommon
as in a will dated 1613 a William Routledge of Todhills passed down his
sword to his unborn son should it be a boy, and if not to his nephew.
As for the walls being able to tell tales, they may not be able to speak
but the Bishops Register which are kept are Carlisle record office do.
I've just used two entries here that relate to Routledges, but if you go
and look at them, providing your old English is ok, then you will see lots
of strange and funny entries relating to not just us but other families
from the parish too. One entry states that in 1726 an Adam Routledge Junr,
of Kilnstown was presented for his disorderly behavior in the church,
"for pulling John Routledge of Roantrees by violence out of his seat
in time of divine service", and then in 1733 Archibald Routledge and
John Pott, "erected a pew in the Parish Church of Bewcastle without
lawful license from the Ordinary"
It conjures up a wonderful mental image of Routledges fighting in church and dragging each other out for a fight while knocking over pews in a pub brawl fashion. Perhaps that reiver blood runs deeper than you think. And who knows what they were fighting over?
